Urban Sustainability Library Previous Work

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return to Urban Sustainability Library

OLD MATERIAL TO BE EDITED

What is an urban sustainable library?

  • We defined sustainability for the Green Garage as having 3 necessary components: environmental integrity, economic justice and community well-being. 2 If any of these elements are missing, it is not considered sustainable.
  • So our library will be sustainable as defined above, and will obviously be urban as defined by the location of the building and the surrounding community.
  • It will be a source of environmentally sustainable information for the community.


How will we provide consultation services?

  • General format for service
    • Reference service for those working at the Green Garage (entailing research on topics, summary answers, organize info for the building on daily basis, develop content and scheduling for classes, organize information learned)
    • Provide free information (example: CAT)
      • information pages (like geothermal systems or rain barrels)
      • 10 most frequently asked questions
      • online forms for questions
      • live chat (like Troy Public Library)
    • Reference service for visitors
      • 1st 2 hours of research free....then a nominal charge beyond that
      • Could provide something like surgery sessions at CAT, where you can sit down with an expert for a nominal fee and discuss your project/issue
      • Provide referrals to experts
  • Information vs advice

Things we now know about our library

Week 1

  • We're in agreement on the what, who, how.
  • We'll defer the question of fees until we know if this will even be a problem.
  • We'll need to do some work on our GLGI site, weeding material and linking appropriate material to GG site.
  • We should have a regional, Detroit focus.
  • One goal should be trying to make it easier for people to contribute to the site.
  • What value can we offer?
    • connecting to a real person
    • connecting locally
    • sharing direct experience
    • offering the broader perspective (look at building envelope first rather than solar panels)
    • neutral third party
  • Bridging the gap between person with knowledge and person reporting on knowledge
    • knowledge manager meeting periodically with technical experts
    • reconfigure the site to make it easier to find material
    • "broader brush" - not so much technical info on pages
  • meet with Rep Fred Durhal of Midtown
  • Timebank - exchange services for services
  • consider evening meetings

Week 2

  • need to update materials pages and familiarize ourselves with what happened to all of our materials
    • link to sites which deal with materials (MSDS - Materials Data Safety Sheets)
  • from our dry wall example:
    • get research people to do research on specific areas
    • use our own example of what we did with drywall
    • help connect with expert
    • regular meetings with experts (weekly event with geothermal company, etc)
    • populate materials charts
    • connect with people doing the work
    • sometimes you need to talk with the person who did the work

Week 3

From our discussion with Laurie Catey:

  • we could provide user training
  • we could at the very least develop key points for areas
  • in dealing with technical material, we can develop examples people can relate to
  • diagrams are a helpful way to help people understand material
  • sometimes personal consultations are the best way to help people understand
  • one area we could help: maintenance of systems
  • videos helpful
  • another area: system operations

Rooftop Garden Scenario

  • need rendering help
  • need help understanding how structures might work
  • need support - help with language for fighting for what they want
  • help finding materials
  • help finding a builder
  • help with communications among interested parties